Settling in...

Slowly we are settling in to life aboard. We have just been very busy for the last month getting sorted out on so many fronts - boat, boys, family dynamics, France, French, where are we, where to go, what to do, etc... Generally good fun with some moments of frustration for each and all of us. Currently we are in Camaret-Sur-Mer near Brest. This morning we were set to leave at 630am but it was still blowing hard, 20+ knots and looking to increase - now blowing Force 7 which the Beaufort Scale labels as "Near Gale" so I am happy to be in a snug harbor. So tomorrow when things moderate a bit, we will negotiate Raz de Sein, a channel with a goodly tidal rip where wind against tide can be intimidating, here it is on a  nice day verses a bad day. For "impatient" Christopher, learning to go where the wind blows you, when it is blowing not too little and not too much, is a learning curve I haven't finished climbing just yet. Although a strong desire to minimize the odds of a family epic appropriately mitigates my impatience in general.

We are enjoying France. Always amazing to see just how pastoral Europe is, even the remote lonely places are civilized (via access to fresh baked bread). Wow the food here is good and we have only eaten out a half dozen or so times in the past month. Strange to be in France and not trying every restaurant, but the supermarket, markets, bread shops, bakeries, fish shops, meat shops, etc.. are all wonderful and we are eating very well. We have even been testing out some canned foods to stock up on for later and even the Cassoulet with Duck in a can is pretty good. Much of the time we succumb to fresh bread, lots of butter, and jam for breakfast followed by a  nice lunch of fresh bread and tasty cheese, and finally- whatever is for dinner- the plates get mopped clean with a bit more bread. All this requires 2-3 loaves a day, occasionally 4, and a peak consumption of five if the boys are especially hungry.

Our collective French is dismal, frequently confused with a bit of Spanish, and for me a few Norwegian words thrown in to keep everyone guessing... got a couple of very quizzical looks from French Customs visit we had yesterday - they couldn't have been nicer and it was smooth as can be. They clearly thought we are crazy to sail off with our kids for a few years. Four officials came aboard, with two more waiting on the large inflatable - so either they thought we might be hard to handle or French Customs staffing reflects France's efforts to keep unemployment numbers down.

The boat, Sila, is wonderful. She sails well, is stoutly built, simple without being spartan, and roomy for four. Sila is a 47-foot French built aluminum center board cutter rigged sail boat built by Boreal (see Boreal website here). We have had our fair share of teething problems but all the big stuff is sorted out. The yard and company owners were very good about taking responsibility for problems if maybe a bit slow, due to being very busy.

Jack is immersed in many things (usually simultaneously) with a running commentary, a patter of questions, and always while singing a song just loud enough for everyone to hear. Song segments are repeated over and over as he learns different songs - he has mastered the Star Spangled Banner and sang it for the 4th of July - by agreement of all for the last time for a while. We replaced his Lady Gaga song by playing some Bon Jovi halfway through a long day - Living on Prayer... oh ..oh .. we're half way there... we aren't sure if we made such a good choice. He reads lots and enjoys going off on his own adventures by himself. Frequently he is off to fetch us the day's bread from the bakery.

Porter is reading like a fiend, about a book every other day. Problem is that with each book, be it fiction or non-fiction, he then has about a dozen curiosity based questions... "Daddy, were old ships built just as warships and regular ships, or one kind of ship that they fixed up to be a war ship..." to which we have to parse out the actual question and then try to answer. Yesterday included a rather vague and rusty explanation of corrosion and rust stemming from, "Daddy, what is rust exactly and how does it happen?" Fortunately, he also likes the classics and doesn't mind reading older fiction - hallelujah to free kindle books. Currently he is plowing through "South" by Earnest Shackelton. He read a fictional anthropomorphizing story on whales recently and was asking a bunch of questions about Moby Dick because the story was referenced in the book, so I've downloaded Moby Dick to his Kindle, that'll slow him down a bit. I hope!

Both boys love to swim, but Porter will spend hours in the water regardless of the temperature or the current intensity of sunshine. After 30 minutes or so Jack will be blue, covered in goose bumps, and uncontrollably shivering and that will be about one third of the way through Porter's swim time. Jack does a nice flip off the bow and is already pestering us about when can he jump off the spreaders into the water! They play a game or two of cribbage each day, eat constantly, and are in good spirits. The new regime of the boys doing the dinner dishes is firmly in place now. They have a few chores aboard such as cleaning the aft head and generally being helpful - they are crew on this ship- not passengers according to their parents.

Molly is keeping me from obsessing over every little possible boat detail, inspiring family hikes, and currently keeping the boat fully stocked with food (which, as far as I can tell includes long walks with a heavy backpack of groceries). We have all benefited from a good bit of sunshine - three red heads aboard, none more so than Molly. For myself, I am enthralled with sorting out our evolving adventure. Subject to momentary panics about getting the boat truly ship shape (Molly correctly interprets much of this as me snugging up my belt to back up the wide and stout suspenders - it is my nature I can't help it...)

All this is but a glimmer of what we are up to and we have only just begun.


- Christopher